


Five Points in Jay's Life

by Merfilly



Category: DCU - Comicverse
Genre: Gen, Genderswap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-06
Updated: 2013-06-06
Packaged: 2017-12-14 02:31:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/831695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jay, street-smart kid, and secrets kept</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five Points in Jay's Life

**Author's Note:**

  * For [somethingclever](https://archiveofourown.org/users/somethingclever/gifts).



> Plays off my Jason'Verse stories

1\. It wasn't just the audacity of the thief that had Batman's attention. As sideways to reality as he had become, it still impacted his heart to see a kid that willing, that desperate to get ahead that the kid took that kind of risk. Maybe he wasn't thinking straight when he dragged the kid to the cave, but Alfred would fix it. Alfred always fixed it.

"What shall I call you, young sir?"

The kid flinched, more from the politeness than anything else, and looked up with blazing defiance. "Jay. Jay is all I use."

2\. "No one in that neighborhood will admit to knowing the boy." Bruce looked over at the child still sleeping on a cot in the far reach of the main cave.

Alfred looked at the child, then at Bruce. "You have, sir, made us responsible for him. I expect you have already begun to fathom a plan on how you will explain this to Master Dick?"

Bruce did not answer that, leaving Alfred with one more worry for his family.

3\. Jay squirmed back away from Alfred as the man held a measuring tape.

"If you wish to assist Master Bruce's nightly activities, you must be protected," Alfred explained.

"I… can I do it for you?"

Alfred looked at the face peering out from under shaggy hair, took in a few other habits observed over the weeks the boy had been with them, and then sat down on the chair. "Master Jay… in the course of this work, you will be hurt. And the injuries may well reveal more than you care to show to the world. If I am to protect not only you, but your secrets, there must be some trust. It takes very precise measurement to conceal one form to look as another."

Jay stared at Alfred in fear, panic, and growing anger at being found out. "How…"

"Acting. I have performed both sides of the gender divide in my time," the elder man admitted. "Your reasons are your own, and I have not even told Master Bruce."

Jay was skeptical of that… but he let the robe fall so that Alfred could measure.

No more words were said, but when the Robin costume was placed in Jay's area of the cave, it fit around Jay perfectly, while presenting only a masculine exterior to the world.

4\. When Wintergreen had reacted to the news that the psychotic Joker was on Egyptian soil and set off the local militants against him, he had never expected to find a Bat-orphan at the center of the fallout. The child… second to carry the name Robin… was in pitiful shape, but Wintergreen was stubborn. He took the beaten youth to the best care he could, and kept vigil. When the doctors decided the youth was stable, Wintergreen had debated what to do next… and with Slade having long since abandoned him, he decided to take the child home with him to finish recovery.

`~`~`~`~`

"Hello, Robin," Wintergreen said as the youth finally seemed aware enough to take stock in the situation at hand.

"What… who…" Skepticism and personal paranoia flicked out. Jay took in that the clothes were concealing, but… there were bandages and other signs aplenty that the secret was out.

"The Bat thinks you are dead. I will leave it to you to decide if you wish this to continue. My name is Wintergreen, retired SAS, and currently your caretaker for as long as you wish me to be. I would prefer to have a name to call you by; I still associate the bright colors with that other lad."

"Jay…" the youth said slowly, voice pushed deeper than the initial confused words, as well as deeper than the sounds of a badly damaged child in a painful recovery.

"A pleasure to meet you, young Jay. We'll talk more as you get stronger." The elder man rose, leaving Jay alone to think on his situation.

5\. The clothing was all unisex, Jay noted as he inventoried the things in his room. Likewise, none of the soaps, shampoos, or other things screamed any gender at him. When he ventured out, Wintergreen made no sign that anything was amiss at first.

"So… you some kind of perv?" Jay asked.

Wintergreen blinked at him. "A rude question, but to the point." He indicated the table with its breakfast already laid out. "I see a youth trying to live up to something of a massive legacy, who has incurred the enmity of the Bat's most potent enemy. Turning you loose without the tools to survive would be the same as if I had left you there for the bomb."

"And what do you get out of it?" Jay demanded.

"Company. A student. Someone to pass the tools I know on to, given that my children have each walked their own paths, as has the one student I ever kept close," Wintergreen said.

"And no … stuff?"

Wintergreen gave a laugh at that. "I am an old man, living out my retirement. I've had my share of creature comforts, I assure you. Children do not appeal to me."

"I'm no kid!"

That earned him a look of consideration. "Perhaps not… but to me, until you are able to survive, you require care and hardening."

"I could make it on my own, you know."

"Perhaps."

They settled to eating, and continued in silence, until Jay began to fidget.

"What is it, Jay?"

Jay considered… so far, the guy had been blunt and up front with all his questions. But if he was going to be safe here…. "You know about me."

Wintergreen's eyebrow went up, and after a moment he snorted. "That hardly matters. If you ever care to share why, Jay, I shall listen. It may prove invaluable for me to help you guard against any holes in your psyche, if you have chosen this out of some past trauma. If not… or you care not to share… I shall merely do what I can to make certain you have the tools you need to maintain the identity you live in."

"Never gonna understand you Brits."


End file.
